Stronghold Of Bandits

The horse trotted on, still in fear of his master who currently held his head up high as if he viewed all others existences as mere bugs. Pride was starting to get impatient with the horse's slow speed, so shook the reigns with speed, making the horse speed up significantly.

Along the road, a few stragglers from the village had appeared who ran away desperately at the sight of pride, but he didn't even glance at them, as if they weren't even worth his gaze, feeling lofty at their fear.

*15 minutes later*

After constant sprinting the horse was beginning to run out of breathe, slowing down to catch some air the majestic war horse continued walking forward. It was at this point, 4 people blasted out the shrubbery on Pride's right, each of them held a plain iron sword encircling him, aimed it towards Pride.

"Looks like we've caught ourselves a rich one today fellas". One of them shouted out.

"Indeed we have Ralph, just look at that clothing and war horse". One of the others replied back

"The boss is going to be happy with this one"

"Get of your horse now, or we will be forced to stain these beautiful weapons, with your blood"

Pride complied and stepped of the horse.

Seeing the target so willing, the 4 of them thought he was scared, letting their guard down. Little did they know this wasn't his intention at all, in the next moment, with incredible speeds, Pride lashed out, in the blink of an eye he was face to face with one of the bandits, before he could even react, a fist landed on his ribcage, completely shattering multiple bones easily, the man dropped to the floor screaming in shock and agony.

When the other 3 started to comprehend their situation and witnessed Crimson's inhumane and otherworldly strength and speed, they realised they were no match for the demon in front of them, prostrating themselves on the ground in fear.

"W-w-we are sorry, w-we didn't know such a powerful man walked this earth, please forgive us".

"Idiotic fools, thinking you could challenge me, what ignorance". looking at the prostrating human's Pride's haughtiness grew.

"Take me to your boss, now" Pride commanded

"p-please sir, anything but that. We will be tortured and murdered". A shivering bandit quietly sounded replied, Pride stared at him with a piercing gaze, fit for a king whose subject defied his orders.

"Its either that, or you die"

Understanding their situation, the group of 4 stood up and started to walk slowly towards their base, trying to hinder their inevitable doom.

Meanwhile, the horse was inwardly gloating, it had contemplated running away again in the hopes of freedom, and just as it was about to, it saw his master move at even higher otherworldly speeds than before.

Soon they entered the woods, after 20 minutes of traveling they soon arrived. Pride tied his battle horse to a tree focused on what was in front of him. There were two trap doors made of coarse iron hidden behind bushes, one of the bandits started to open it up slowly ready to enter, just as he was about to, Pride stopped him.

"Use your sword and pretend I'm a hostage, then bring me to your leader. Don't even think about trying to kill me, it wont work". The bandit hastily nodded and accepted his orders.

As the 4 of them entered though the trapdoors, a long lit up tunnel came into view, at the end of it a huge crossbow framed ballista aimed down the tunnel, staring the 5 of them in the face. Behind it, another bandit aimed down the crossfire.

"Halt, state your name, rank and reason for arrival" shouted the one controlling the ballista.

"Roger, lower bandit, bringing in a noble captive, I request a meeting with the boss". Replied the bandit with a sword at Pride's back.

After hearing the bandit's rank, the tunnel protector became uninterested, after all its was one of the lowest ranks in the alliance only above trainee bandit, but when he heard about the noble captive his interest flared once again.

"Request accepted, come through". After being allowed entry through the tunnel they were then guided within the stronghold, in a medieval age like this, large underground bases were very rare, as people didn't have the money or materials to keep the underground base stable, but these outlaws, bandits and robbers had somehow managed to do it.

*Pride switches with Greed*

*Greed switches with Pride*

A constant influx of people seemed to be walking past, men, woman and even children were in shackles and chains, all o them had diseases, injuries or were half starved to death. After much walking, they soon arrived at a staircase, it was unlike any the sins had seen in this world so far excluding the castle of coarse.

The stairs were made out of marble, leading up to an exclusive room separated from the other clustered buildings, the room was also made up of the same identical white marble the only thing not made out of marble on the exterior was the door created from a lustrous silver metal.

After entering the room with shackles on his hands, Pride saw 3 people inside, one smirking handsome man in the middle sitting on an iron throne, though no where near as handsome as Crimson, a woman and a man on either side of him with hoods over their head.

The handsome man in the centre suddenly spoke. "The 4 of you are dismissed"

The shaking bandits nodded their heads and exited through the door, feeling as though something bad was about to happen to their boss.

"Its been a while since a noble, has been caught by us. Now KNEEL" he commanded in a loud tone.

Pride looked at him like he was an idiot, when Pride was born, his instinct was to never bend his knees to anyone no matter who it was, to do so willingly would be against his nature. In a sarcastic tone Pride replied

"Why should I kneel to a weakling like you"

The man by his left side went into a flying rage, "INSOLANT FOOL, HOW DARE YOU". The man lashed out with intent to kill, in the face of a human this man would be viewed as quite strong. It was to bad he faced of against Crimson.

*Pride switches with Wrath*

As the punch came flying towards his face, Wrath broke his shackles with sheer physical strength making the man hesitate for a second, but it didn't stop his attack, as the punch was about to land, the fist was stopped by Wrath's palm, he didn't flinch neither did he move as if the punch had no effect.

"Your pretty strong for a human, but its time to show you real strength"

Wrath slashed his wrist with a knife that Greed had managed to steal earlier using his new skill, touch pickpocket. Blood flowed from his wrist onto the ground, while the 3 people in the room looked at him with confusion, Crimson's immense constitution allowed him to withstand immense pain, blood loss, poisons and elemental attacks most others couldn't.

When enough blood had been pooled on the floor, Wrath began, suddenly the blood started to rise in the air and solidify, creating a spear of blood that floated in mid air. The 3 of them were stunned beyond belief.

"D-DEMON, your a monster" replied the man who had previously struck him. Such magic had never been seen on earth before, so it came as a big surprise.

"Bingo" Wrath replied while smiling. Wrath grabbed the spear in his hand and launched it at the hooded man, with no hinderance it passed right through his stomach, making him fall to the ground with wide eyes.

The man in the throne, no longer had that arrogant attitude and smirk on his face, instead his face was replaced by dread and panic, understanding his situation the man went wild with words.

"W-what do you want, I'll give you anything money, territory, power, woman all of it, I'm begging just don't kill me please". Seeing the demon was still walking towards him he became even more desperate.

"I'll even give you the beauty next to me, just spare my life".

The hooded woman looked at him with hateful intent and even though Wrath couldn't see her expression he still felt the hateful energies from within her hood.

'We could use her for lust, if she really is as beautiful as he makes her out to be'. Wrath contemplated. Seeing his interest in the hooded figure he continued to strike the iron while it was hot.

"Her name is Aldith, she is also a noble from a very powerful royal family, the house of Beaufort, her father dotes on her heavily and is a duke, he is also the kings uncle, who takes control of the kingdom's problems in the place of the king".

After hearing that, Wrath had his full attention on the woman still wearing her hood, his luck seemed to be incredibly good today, her background alone could bring the sins incredible fortune if they used her right.

Wrath moved away from the door and gestured for the man on the throne to leave. Filled with happiness he ran for the door, but he was foolish to believe in someone like Wrath. Just as he was about to leave, a piercing pain was felt through his body, Wrath then pulled his hand out his chest carrying a fresh heart in his palm.

Dropping it to the floor, Wrath turned around to face the last one as the noise of a dead body dropping was heard behind him. The only person left standing was the masked mystery woman who could be very useful.

*Wrath switches with Lust*

"Its time you reveal your face, don't you think" Lust said charmingly